OTB chapter 10
Power may be defined as the potential ability to influence behaviour, to change the course of events, to overcome resistance, and to get people to do things that they would not otherwise do.
Three bases of power
reward power- the extent to which a manager can use extrinsic and intrinsic rewards to control other people.
coercive power- the extent to which a manager can deny desired rewards or administer punishment to control other people.
legitimate power stems from the extent to which a manager can use the internalised belief of employees that the boss has a right of command to control their behavior.
Personal power
expert power- the ability to control another's behaviour through the possession of knowledge, experience or judgement that the other person does not have but needs
referent power- the ability to control another's behaviour because the individual wants to identify with the power source.
when will employees'
follow bosses' requests
1) The employee can and must understand the directive
2) must feel mentally and physically capable of carrying out the directive.
3) The employee must believe the directive is not inconsistent with the purpose of the organisation.
4) ...with his or her personal interests.
Formal authority is the potential to exert such control through the legitimacy of a managerial position.
The zone of indifference is the
range of authoritative requests
to which an employee is willing
to respond (obey) without subjecting
the directives to critical evaluation
or judgement.
. If a manager were to make requests
outside the zone of indifference,
he will most likely need to use
more incentives than pure position power.
To enhance position power
1- increase centrality and critical role in the organisation- having information filtered through you, make part of job responsibilities unique, expand communication network.
2- Increase personal discretion and flexibility of the job- remove routine activities, expanding task variety and novelty, initiate new ideas and get involved in new projects.
3- Build task into the job that are difficult to evaluate- create an ambiguous job description, unique language or set of labels or getting involved in advanced training and professional associations.
4- Increase visibility of job performance- expand number of contracts with senior people, making oral presentations of written work, participating in problem-solving task forces and seek opportunities to increase personal name recognition.
5-Increase the relevance of tasks to the organisation- become an internal coordinator or external representative, provide service or info to other units, monitor and evaluate activities without your own unit, become a trainer or mentor for new members and get involved in decision making central to top-priority goals.
enhance personal power
1- Knowledge and information- by education, training and experience or through special assess to data or people.
2- Personal attractiveness- reference power will be increased by enhancing “likeability” and personal attraction in relationship with other people. Having a pleasant personality, agreeable behaviour patterns and attractive personal appearance.
3- Effort- demonstrate hard work to be sought out for advice from others.